HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY
26th October 2018
A lot of changes in the garden, some not as
visible as others. The seeds have been sown for
2019 in the wildflower patches, and it rained
soon after so we were happy to see shoots
appearing everywhere.
We have managed to get a very late batch of
slug nematodes and are in the process of
watering them into all the veg beds, now
cleared, and the polytunnel beds.
After contacting the local
beekeepers club to offer
space for beehives we
have agreed initially to
place two hives near the
road bank next April, with
an option for two more if
the first are successful.
Work has begun to clear
the usual collection of
brambles and particularly
cutting back the rambling
rhododendron in the
corner, the plan being to
leave their space needing
the minimum of
maintenance and thus
disturbance from us.
At last the cypress stump
in the pond area has been
cut up small enough to be
moved to the bonfire pit!
Ideas change and we want
to have a fixed plan before
we start work on digging
and clearing. I shall update
the pond project page as
soon as we make any more
steps forward. Dreckly.
While visiting Bodnant
Gardens near Llandudno a
while back we saw a
beautiful dwarf
rhododendron which has
proved difficult to buy,
well buy at a sensible
price! Rhododendron
Yakushimanum came from
Germany and is planted
near the gazebo.
The north side of the small
copse has a pieris and a
rhododendron. We
thought. The rhodi is in
fact just an old stump with
some shoots struggling to
grow, it will have to come
out. All this area was
covered in the wretched
black weed-suppressing
plastic, but about half of
that has been pulled up.
After investing in a robust
long-handled bulb planter I
put 100 snake’s head
fritillary bulbs in the patch
around the doomed rhodi.
Hope they like their shady
spot.
Fine weather and dry soil
made putting an electric
point in the polytunnel
easier than it might have
been. Still had 18 metres
of cabling to bury in the
run from the potting
shed. Found more
builder’s rubble…
There are a lot more pheasants about than usual this autumn. They still
like to play in the road unfortunately, but also seem to enjoy being inside
our ‘protected area’ around the vegetable plots for their morning get-
together, and it is a mix of girls and boys. Unusually though we’ve seen
one pheasant that is pure white all over.